Real life events continue to interfere with my regular posting. However, I would rather deal with them and neglect posting than the other way around. My mother-in-law had full knee replacement surgery last week and we've been helping her out. I've been tending to the children and cooking while my wife tends to her mother, assists her with her physical thereapy, keeps track of her medication, etc. It hasn't been pretty.

This is a very vivid reminder (along with Steve's editorial, Open Enrollment) that I need to get back into shape especially considering previous injuries due to sports (knees from baseball, ankles and hip from soccer) and military training (shoulder). After graduating from The Citadel in 1995 I've put on about 100 pounds. When I left El Cid I was at my optimum weight. However, sedentary jobs with the USAF (project manager and tech branch lead) and afterwards mean I do far less each day than I did when I was a cadet and I never adjusted accordingly. Bad move.

I began changing my diet and walking at least 10,000 steps a day a few weeks ago (10,000 steps equates to about 30-60 minutes of walking). I've lost some weight, but I know I have a long way to go. I didn't put this weight on overnight so it's not going to go away overnight (at least, not in a healthy manner). Towards the end of last week I was able to mix in a bit of running, and my goal is to get back to distance running again. I started running with my mom when I was 3 and I ran competitively in junior high and high school. During my Air Force days I went in cycles where I ran a lot and then, as work picked up, dropped back to hardly running at all. After the Air Force, I pretty much became less and less active. Therefore, I know the catch is not only to get in the habit of eating properly and exercising regularly again but also to not get out of the habit like I have in the past.

With all that said, hopefully things will settle down and I'll get back to posting regularly again in the next few days.